Operation: Rescue Wikus
by ZombieToGo
Summary: Tania wants her husband back, but who do you hire to rescue your husband from an alien refugee camp? The A-Team of course!


Disclaimer: Of course, I own none of this except the idea.

A/N: So this has been on my mind for a while and I finally just committed it to paper - uh, keyboard that may be. Probably just a one-shot unless there are enough people who want to see more. Reviews always appreciated!

**Chapter One**

_**Los Angeles, California**_

Tania unfolded a couple of twenties from the stack of bills in her purse and handed them to the cab driver, waving off the offer of change and stepping out of the car. The late summer heat of Los Angeles struck her once again. She paused a moment before slamming the door and stepping onto the sidewalk. Despite the unpleasant mix of stale cigarettes and vanilla air fresher that had been assaulting her sinuses for the last forty minutes Tania suddenly missed the frigid interior of the cab whose a/c had been running at full blast. The cab pulled quickly away from the curb and disappeared down the drive. She pinched her linen tunic and bellowed it to fan herself while she looked cautiously around.

For a weekday the Griffith Observatory was bustling with activity. A tour bus was idling in the parking lot, spilling its passengers who blinked in the brightness. Smaller groups of people were milling around the front though most headed for the building that dominated the hilltop. It rose, white and gleaming in the afternoon sun with three high domes. Tania allowed herself a moment to look at the building, clutching at her purse and feeling her apprehension mounting.

Setting off with a determined lift of her chin, Tania reflected on the goose chase that had led her to the Los Angeles monument. Three days ago she'd touched down at LAX after spending twenty hours cramped into economy class of a packed international flight. Sleep had evaded her on the journey, but since Wikus had been gone there had been a lot of sleepless nights. But she had stepped out of LAX feeling strangely elated, closer than ever to getting her husband back. Her first visit to the city had been the Santa Monica pier where her mysterious contact had slipped a cheap cell phone into her bag. Since then a man on the other end of the line had directed her to Chinatown and the Kodak Theater. Tania had followed each set of directions to the letter, too worried to do otherwise. But after another sleepless night Tania had decided that she'd had enough. She would see this mysterious man or call it off and return home to Johannesburg.

She stepped into the lobby of the observatory behind a small group of tourists. Carefully Tania edged around them smiling politely. There were a few people paused in the lobby, engaged in taking photos or reading the displays. Tania felt a slight wave of disappointment that none of them seemed to be looking at her. Burying the feeling she turned to her right and approached the information desk.

"Excuse me," she asked as a heavy set man with thick glasses looked up at her.

"Yes, miss. Welcome to the Griffith Observatory. What can I help you with?" he asked with a proud smile. Tania pulled the scrap of hotel letterhead from her pocket and looked at her scribbled directions.

"I'm looking for the Café at the End of the Universe," she said, biting her lip and showing him the note. He didn't look at it, but instead picked up a brochure of the observatory and unfolded it to a map. Tania leaned forward and looked at his thick finger tracing a path along the picture.

"Very easy to get to miss," he said. "Just take the stairs to the lower level and might I suggest you take the Cosmic Connection to get there? It's not a long detour and a fascinating look at the history of astronomy. Some wonderful astronomy themed jewelry on display throughout."

"Okay, thank you," Tania said taking the offered map in one hand as she stuffed the note into her pocket with the other. The man smiled and turned back to his work. Tania walked past the oversized pendulum that dominated the lobby without giving it a second glance and hurried to the entrance of the Cosmic Connection gallery. She had expected to see other people, but the emptiness of the corridor was unsettling. Again, apprehension rose and she considered calling it quits here, but as the idea rose in her mind so did Wikus' face. Tania swallowed, squared her shoulders and set off down the gallery.

She followed it down, glancing now and then at one of the displays but never stopping. At the end she was greeted by noise and smell. The sound of a busy cafeteria became distinct, the rattle of glass and tinkle of silverware and the low hum of soft conversation. Tania put a hand to her stomach as the smell of food caught her attention. She had skipped breakfast and was suddenly ravenous.

At the end of the Cosmic Connection she went to the left without even thinking about it the smell drawing her into the café. It was a wide space furnished with sleek white plastic chairs and opaque glass walls lit from behind. Overall it gave the appearance of being from a future that was going to date quickly.

Stopping at the doorway Tania looked around. That morning she had been directed by the mysterious man on the phone to take an empty table and it seemed that was going to be a bigger challenge than she had planned on. There was one open table and Tania moved quickly for it, clutching her purse to her side and threading her way between the occupied tables. She dropped into an empty chair, putting her purse on her lap and the brochure on the table.

Only a couple of minutes had passed, but they felt like hours to Tania with her nerves already strung tight. A few people passed her table with food laden trays and they gave her narrowed looks and Tania was painfully aware that she was sitting at valuable real estate in this crowded cafeteria. She sank in her chair and kept her attention firmly on the windows so that she didn't have to see those expressions.

"I figured you were more of a diet soda type, than a regular."

Tania jerked, the chair squeaking across the floor as a man appeared and sat at the table. Fear sucked her breath away as Tania was suddenly looking in the face of an older man with kind blue eyes and a bemused smile. He put two cups on the table, laid a straw across one and pushed it across to Tania . She ducked her head, putting one hand to her chest where her heart beat furiously.

"Are you Colonel Smith?" Tania hissed, ignoring the soda.

"The very same. I apologize for the run around, but we had to be sure you weren't a plant," the man said. He ripped the paper wrapper from his own straw and pushed it through the lid. Tania studied him closely.

"I was ready to give up," she admitted softly. Without thinking her hands curled around the soda cup and she pulled it closer.

"You've been through a lot Miss Van de Merwe," he said and she wasn't sure if he was apologizing or stating a fact. He seemed warm and she wanted to trust him but she couldn't bear to have her hopes dashed again. Wikus was back in Johannesburg, waiting for her to rescue him and Tania was tired of being helpless.

"Yes. Colonel, I don't have a lot of money," Tania said. They hadn't discussed fees on the phone. But she had put the house up for sale, since that damn documentary had been released it had only attracted weirdos and freaks. Her mother had also given her a check and though Tania hadn't asked where the money had come from, she had noticed her mother's hand was missing an heirloom ring.

Smith raised a hand to stop her, "Let's talk about money later. First, why don't you tell me what it is you'd like us to do."

"My husband," she began, pulling her wallet from her bag and opening it to the wedding photo inside. She passed it to Smith. "He's – been kidnapped. Kind of."

"How is someone kind of kidnapped Miss Van de Merwe?" Smith took the photo but didn't look at it immediately.

"You are familiar with District Nine in Johannesburg?" Tania asked to which Smith nodded. "My husband was working for MNU and he was infected with something at District Nine, it …. Changed him. Made him start to, become one of those aliens. I think MNU tried to kill him, he went into hiding in District Nine."

"Miss Van de Merwe, you said he was infected with something. Do you know what that was, or if its contagious?"

Tania shook her head. She plucked the straw from the top of her cup and used her nail to rip it open. "It's not contagious. I swear to you its not. Can you help me?"

"I understand your situation Miss – Mrs Van de Merwe, but even if we could locate your husband in District Nine, where do you plan on keeping him afterwards?" Smith asked.

"I've been in contact with friends. Sympathizers to the aliens, I guess. They're willing to hide him and I both. Please Colonel Smith. You are the only hope I have left of seeing my Wikus again."

Instead of answering Smith finally looked at the photograph. Tanya slid the straw into her soda and sipped at it. It was diet and she didn't really care for the taste of diet sodas. She couldn't help but think that Wikus would have known that, he would have brought her a regular soda or even better a bottle of water. Tania was fully prepared to follow that train of thought until she realized that Smith hadn't stopped staring at the photograph.

"Colonel? What is it?"

She put the cup on the table, leaning forward, trying to see the photo and worried she had pulled the wrong one out. Smith looked up at her, his expression carefully blank.

"This is your husband?" Smith asked holding up the picture. She glanced to Wikus, smiling brightly in his tuxedo and couldn't help the smile that she returned to his image.

"Yes."

"Mrs Van de Merwe, I think you should meet my team."

-.-.-

"So, does this mean you'll do it? You'll rescue my Wikus?" Tania asked following Smith back up the Cosmic Connection hallway. He was a tall man and she nearly had to jog to keep pace with his long strides.

"I'm not promising anything at the moment Mrs Van de Merwe, not until you meet the team," he said. He led her back into the lobby and outside through the main doors. When it became apparent their goal was the black van parked in the first row Tania wondered if she had seen earlier, and felt certain she had not. The red stripe running along the side and the lights mounted to the roof were too unforgettable.

The back door slid open as they drew closer, Tania carefully picking her way through the planter bed to stand at Smith's side. The man who opened the door poked his head out, leaning an elbow on his knee and looking at Tanya with a smile. He was what she thought of as typically American, deeply tanned and with teeth just a shade too white.

"Face, this is Mrs Van de Merwe," Smith said and looked at Tania , "This is Templeton Peck. Otherwise known as Face."

"Hello, was that Miss Van de Merwe?" the man known as Face said, extending a hand. Tanya took it with a smile.

"Mrs. Van de Merwe," she corrected, stressing the Mrs and enjoying the obvious disappointment that passed over his expression. It had drove Wikus up the wall that men paid so much attention her. As she shook hands with Face, Smith was introducing the next man.

"B.A. Baracus," Smith intoned and Tanya was in awe of the man who reached past Face to shake hands. She gave her hand up willingly and noticed that he did not smile. His appearance was stern and Tania had little doubt he was the muscle of the group. His arms bulged with muscles and seemed to demand their own introduction.

"And, Mrs. Van de Merwe, this is H.M. Murdock," Smith said and a third man came from the shadowy recess of the van. Tania gasped and felt her throat burn in the breaths wake. It was the smile she noticed first, crooked and boyish. Wikus himself was coming forward, face dusted with stubble and eyes gleaming and Tania felt the world shift. Her vision narrowed, tunneling into a pinpoint in which Wikus stopped smiling and concern took over his face. Then, blackness washed over her and the world was gone.

-.-.-

"Boss?" Murdock asked, holding the pretty blonde in his arms and looking at Smith with bewilderment.

"It's alright Captain," Smith said and B.A. stepped out of the van to help with Tania . Together they eased her inside the van, sitting her in one of the chairs.

"What caused that?" Face asked Smith, looking over the parking to make sure no one had seen the woman fainting then being dragged inside the van by two men. There was a tap on his arm and Face looked to see Smith holding a photograph out to him. He took it, meaning to give it a glance, then stopped and pulled it closer to his face. He looked up and regarded Murdock intensely.

"What?" Murdock asked catching Face's unnerving stare.

"The reason Mrs. Van de Merwe fainted," Smith said, climbing into the passenger seat. Face laughed and handed the photograph off to B.A. Murdock made a grab for it and missed.

"What? There's two crazy fools?" B.A. demanded after looking at the photograph. He swore and shook his head.

"Come on B.A., lets get on the road," Smith said.

"Yes sir," B.A. said, flicking the photograph in Murdock's direction. The Captain made a frantic grab for it, fumbled it briefly then turned it right side up and gasped.

"Who is this?" Murdock asked. Face climbed into the back, closing the door and taking his seat.

"That is Wikus Van de Merwe," Smith said as B.A. turned the key in the ignition. "He is this woman's husband and has disappeared into District Nine."

"District Nine? The place in South Africa with the aliens?" Face demanded, leaning forward.

"The same Face, and she wants us to rescue him."


End file.
